New Members reported in this week's WiP: 13,520
New Members reported in WiP, 1999: 160,095

SUNNY DAY AT SUNY — About 360 food service workers at the State University of New York at Albany won representation by Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Local 471 June 1. The card-check agreement with University Auxiliary Services was reached in May and an arbitrator verified the workers' choice last week.

AYES IN TEXAS — In Dallas, 66 workers at Ferro Metals chose to join PACE Local 4-895 in April. Those workers produce specialty chemical and ceramic products.

HEALTH WORKERS CHOOSE UFCW — Workers at the Oakcliff Convalescent Home in Waterbury, Conn., voted 30-22 to join Food and Commercial Workers Local 371 last month. Local President Brian Petronella said workers were concerned about low wages and health care premiums as high as $50 a week.

BIKERS DELIVER A MESSAGE — Messengers at UltraEx in San Francisco became the first unionized bike messengers in the country June 1 when they voted to join Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6. All 42 members of the bargaining unit voted, casting their ballots for a voice on the job by a nearly 2-1 margin. "We're hard-working people and we ought to make enough to pay the rent," said Nana Robinson, a member of the organizing committee. "We showed that messengers can stand up and take control of our own lives."

TEXTILE PROCESSORS MERGE WITH UFCW — The unaffiliated Textile Processors, Service Trades, Health Care, Professional and Technical Employees International Union and UFCW have reached a merger agreement. Last month, a special convention of the 13,000-member union approved the merger, which the UFCW's Executive Board approved May 27.

FIRST STEP IN PUERTO RICO — In the first vote since an historic public employee bargaining rights bill was signed last year, nearly 50,000 teachers, cafeteria workers, maintenance workers, clericals and others at the Puerto Rico Department of Education cast ballots last month on whether to have union representation. The vote count is expected within the next several weeks. Nearly 80 percent of those eligible voted during the 10-day, multisite election, in the first step of a two-part process. If the employees chose bargaining rights, a second election will determine which union the four separate groups of workers want to represent them. The employees are forming unions with AFSCME, AFT, SEIU and UAW. Other public employee units will vote this summer.

TIME TO COUNT THE VOTES — After a 20-year struggle, teaching assistants at all University of California campuses have voted on whether to join a union; results are expected June 17. Assistants at UCLA and UC Berkeley already have opted to join the UAW-affiliated Association of Graduate Student Employees. In New York, an NLRB regional director denied New York University's motion to dismiss a representation petition filed by UAW on behalf of 1,500 teaching assistants.

CWA FILES FOR US AIRWAYS RERUN — Following last month's federal court ruling overturning the choice of US Airways workers to join the Communications Workers, CWA filed a petition with the National Mediation Board June 3 for an immediate rerun of the election. The union and the airline were near wrapping up a first contract for the 10,000 customer service workers when the court ruled on the company's election appeal. "It's unfortunate that this legal maneuvering is standing in the way of a fair contract for these passenger service professionals," said CWA President Morton Bahr. US Airways has refused voluntary recognition despite the fact 84 percent of the workers have signed authorization cards.

FIRST RATE MARCH ON SECOND LINE — More than 2,000 workers and their families turned out to march and rally for workers' freedom to choose a union in New Orleans May 29. Speakers drew attention to the widespread intimidation of New Orleans hotel workers who speak up for their rights, as well as the six-year struggle for union recognition at Avondale shipyard. Among the community leaders taking part was Bishop Robert Blake of the New Home Missionary Baptist Church, who led the rally in a mass participation prayer. The action, held in conjunction with the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists' annual convention, made clear that increasing numbers of religious and community leaders in New Orleans support the "Labor Peace" campaign, which would ensure employer neutrality in any hotel or entertainment development to be built on city-owned land.

CARHAUL SETTLEMENT — Tough negotiating by the Teamsters beat back a bevy of management concession demands by the carhaul industry and won a new four-year contract last week that "sets a new standard for working people across the nation," said IBT President James P. Hoffa. Instead of threatening jobs by allowing Mexican trucking firms and drivers into the U.S. carhaul industry, or establishing a two-tier wage scale, the new pact for more than 12,000 workers calls for wage increases, bonuses and significantly better pension benefits. The workers, who deliver new cars from manufacturers to dealers, will vote on the contract in coming weeks.

JUNE 9 SPECIAL DELIVERY — The Letter Carriers, with the backing of the entire union movement, will deliver a call for better pay to the U.S. Postal Service June 9 when NALC members conduct a National Day of Informational Picketing to demonstrate their solidarity. The picketing will precede the start of arbitration for a new national contract. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney urged all union members to join in picketing with the Letter Carriers, who will be wearing special buttons that say, "Letter Carriers Work Harder, Deserve Higher Pay!"

IAM'S UNITED MEMBERS OK PACT — Some 20,000 public contact employees—customer service, reservations, air freight and city ticket office workers—approved their first-ever contract with United Airlines last month. In the largest airline organizing win ever, the workers voted to join the Machinists in 1998. The new deal includes wage increases, signing bonuses and elimination of a lower wage scale classification.

INGALLS STRIKE ENDS — More than 7,700 members of 11 unions at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., ratified new contracts June 3 and 4, ending a three-week strike. The nine unions in the Pascagoula Metal Trades Council, representing 6,500 workers, the 1,200 members of Electrical Workers Local 733 and the members of Machinists Local 1133 had rejected the company's May 15 contract offer. The new agreements will increase wages $2.30 an hour over the 45-month contract term, improve the pension multiplier and add an attendance bonus that could boost pay by up to $750 annually.

RAIL WORKER PROTECTIONS — Labor protections already were in place on June 1 when the split up of Conrail moved some 16,000 railway workers to either Norfolk Southern or CSX Corp. The three largest unions representing Conrail workers—the United Transportation Union, Transport Workers Union and the Maintenance of Way Employes—say the labor agreements worked out with the two carriers will protect their members' wages, benefits and rights. UTU members include conductors, brakemen, engineers and ground service workers. The TWU represents some 2,000 rail car repairmen and inspectors, while the BMWE's members build and maintain tracks, bridges and buildings.

CLEANING UP CROWN'S ACT — PACE applauded Harris County (Texas) pollution control officials' stand that Crown Petroleum must install a second sulphur recovery unit to reduce emissions in the community around its Pasadena refinery. A Crown consultant claimed the unit would cost too much; Crown hired the consultant after the state fined the company $1.1 million for air pollution. The company has locked out 250 of the refinery's workers since 1997. "We will continue to educate people about Crown's deadly pollution, and will organize against any sellouts by public officials," said PACE Vice President Jim Byrd. The final decision is up to the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state officials, including Gov. George Bush (R), who favors voluntary compliance with pollution laws.

BUILDING GOOD SCHOOLS — Fifteen million children attend public schools with serious heating, ventilation and air conditioning problems, while 11 million attend schools with major electrical problems. The AFL-CIO, AFT and the Building and Construction Trades are pushing for passage of H.R. 1660, the Public School Modernization Act. The bill will provide funds for public school districts to repair, modernize and rebuild schools. It also will guarantee that federally funded school rebuilding projects pay the prevailing local construction wage.

DAVIS-BACON ATTACKED, AGAIN — In what has become an annual ritual, some congressional Republicans are trying to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act, which ensures that federally funded construction projects pay the prevailing local wage. The repeal effort's sponsor, Sen. Robert C. Smith (R-N.H.), claims the act raises costs, but a BCTD study released last week (see www.bctd.org/davis.htm) shows the act does not inflate wages or costs." Prevailing wage laws ensure that federal contracts go to local contractors, not carpetbaggers, jobs go to the local workforce and that our roads and bridges are built by the most-skilled and best-trained workers," said Laborers' President Arthur Coia.

BE SURE TO REWIND — Three years ago, in an attempt to win a strong first contract, AFSCME Local 3280 members struck the privately run Veterans' Home in Anna, Ill. Little did they know that the strike would help them win a strong second contract as well. As contract talks approached this spring, AFSCME Council 31 and the international produced a video of the 1996 strike. Members—and management—were reminded of what worker solidarity can achieve. Instead of protracted negotiations, the union and managers reached agreement in just three meetings. The new pact includes a healthy raise, more vacation days, employer matching for the 401(k) plan and better overtime pay.

BORDER INSPECTION — A delegation of Steelworkers from plants in Indiana and Illinois traveled to Matamoros, Mexico, last month to learn first-hand the effects the North American Free Trade Agreement is having on workers there. The 13 unionists were among the hundreds of thousands of activists whose letters, phone calls and e-mails persuaded Congress last year to reject "Fast Track" authority for expanding NAFTA into other countries. The USWA delegation visited expatriate Fortune 500 plants and the slums where local workers are forced to live and raise their families.

WHEN GOOD JOBS GO BAD — More than one in every four young workers does not have a permanent, full-time job—which means they often earn lower wages, don't get health or pension benefits and are not covered by crucial labor and employment laws. Those are the findings in a recent report, When Good Jobs Go Bad: Young Adults and Temporary Work in the New Economy, by the 2030 Center. The report calls for a "temporary workers' bill of rights," which would guarantee access to benefits, a grievance procedure and job training. For a copy of the report, call the 2030 Center toll free at 1-877-2030-ORG or visit http://www.2030.org/.

VOICE@WORK, JUNE 19-25—freedom to choose a union.